Page 3 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 48

Thread: WAR On Terror?

  1. #21
    good
    -------------------
    hairstraighteneronline

  2. #22
    Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.
    play with my super runescape accounts fighting

  3. #23
    Thanks World n style...Keep visiting

  4. #24
    By Hugh Sykes
    BBC News, Baghdad

    Nearly three decades of war, brutal totalitarianism, invasion, occupation and insurgency in Iraq have left behind at least a million widows - and several million children without fathers.
    That was the conservative estimate earlier in 2009 by Iraq's acting minister for women's affairs, Narmeen Othman. She believes there may even be two million widows.
    Under Saddam Hussein, despite the brutality of his regime towards so many of Iraq's people, war widows were looked after by the state. Now, they are mostly hidden and vulnerable.
    It's been called Iraq's cultural time bomb.
    Close to the surface of the new normality here, there are painful memories, and a yearning for lost loved ones.
    And - there's anxiety about looking after the children when the breadwinner has gone.
    Success story
    At the al-Ethar charity in west Baghdad, donations from well-wishers help support families without fathers. They also help to find husbands for women who want to remarry.
    The director, Hana Badrani, told me she has more than 2,000 widows on her books, with a total of 7,000 children whose fathers have been killed. Most of the widows do not have any qualifications to help them get work. They're trapped.
    She introduced me to one of their success stories - Iman and Hussein. Iman's husband was shot dead two years ago. She has now re-married - and she and Hussein have a little boy called Yussef, who kept on catching my eye and grinning.
    Hussein told me: "Marrying a widow is good for the man and for the children."

    Umm Fatima's husband was shot dead at a petrol station
    Iman says her friends encouraged her to get married again.
    Hussein's mother Latife encouraged her too: "All these widows," she said. "All these children. Who else is going to take care of them?"
    I also met Umm Fatima - a young widow who started to sob when I asked her how her four children were coping. Their father Ahmad was shot dead nearly three years ago by men wearing military uniforms. He'd simply been refuelling his taxi cab when they killed him.
    Umm Fatima has lost a husband and the family income.
    She believes it's very important for her and for the children that she re-marries. "A father for them would make us all more secure," she told me - financially, and emotionally.
    "They miss their dad," she went on. "And when they meet men sometimes, they want them to give them a hug."

    One day, I sat with a widow, Umm Ahmed, and her three-year-old daughter Sara. Umm Ahmed told me, in a very matter-of-fact way, that her husband had been shot dead, simply walking down the street.
    When her mother had finished speaking, Sara looked up at me and said: "Please stay with us."

  5. #25
    US mulling Chaosistan plan for Afghanistan
    Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:01:41 GMT

    Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan, has said that he has received a recommendation advocating a plan called Chaosistan for the war-tron Central Asian nation.

    He made the remarks in a speech in London earlier this month in which he commented on a paper on the Chaosistan plan.

    McChrystal said the plan stated that Afghanistan should be allowed to become a "Somalia-like haven of chaos that we simply manage from outside."

    But he did not reveal the paper's origins.

    Later, two US intelligence officials told Newsweek that the reference almost certainly comes from a secret CIA analysis entitled "Chaosistan".

    The document, prepared by a "red team" of CIA analysts, picks apart conventional analyses of the war inside Afghanistan, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

  6. #26
    85,000 people killed in post-war Iraq
    Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:50:11 GMT


    Iraq's government says more than 85,000 people have died from 2004 to 2008 in violence-related incidents, following the US invasion of the country.

    The late Thursday figure, which is the first estimate released by Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights, includes violence-related death ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings.

    Based on death certificates issued by the Ministry of Health, 1,279 children, 2,334 women, 263 university professors, 21 judges, 95 lawyers and 269 journalists were among the deaths.

    The official results answer one of the biggest questions of the conflict, while it still does not say how many died in the months of chaos that followed the 2003 US invasion.

    The report added that nearly 150,000 Iraqis including civilians, military and police officers, were wounded in the same period.

    It described the years that followed the invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, as extremely violent.

    RZS/SS/RE

  7. #27
    UN lashes out at US for drone strikes
    Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:51:51 GMT

    According to independent reports, only 10 out of the 70 cross-border strikes in Pakistan were able to hit their actual targets.

    The United Nations has warned Washington about indiscriminate use of drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan, saying that it may be breaking humanitarian law.

    The UN rights investigator said the United States has done nothing to demonstrate that its not randomly killing civilians in violation of international law through the use of drones.

    "My concern is that these drones — these predators — are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law," UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston told a press conference on Tuesday.

    "The onus is on the government of the United States to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure arbitrary extrajudicial executions aren't in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons," the top official added.

    The UN investigator also criticized Washington for refusing to respond to UN concerns regarding the use of drone aircrafts in the troubled South Asian region.

    "We need the United States to be more up front… otherwise you have the really problematic bottom line that the CIA is running a program that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability in terms of the relevant international laws," Alston stressed.

    According to independent reports, since August 2008 alone, around 70 cross-border predator strikes carried out by American drones have resulted in the deaths of 687 Pakistani civilians.

    Back in June, the US told the UN Rights Council that it has an extensive legal framework to respond to unlawful drone killings.

    Washington also said that the UN investigator did not have the mandate to cover military and intelligence issues.

    On Tuesday, US democratic Senator John Kerry said drone attacks will continue in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal region, despite rising public outrage.

    This is while Pakistani officials have repeatedly warned the US about such attacks, saying that it infringes the country's sovereignty.

    FF/MVZ/AKM

  8. #28
    now everybody wants to be a DADA or BHAI

  9. #29
    Guantanamo conditions 'deteriorate'
    By Andrew Wander

    Some prisoners say conditions have deteriorated at Guantanamo Bay this year

    On the night that Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, 21-year-old Mohammed el Gharani was sitting in a segregation cell in Guantanamo Bay's high security Echo Block.

    He remembers the excitement among his fellow prisoners at the prospect of an Obama presidency. "Everyone was very hopeful; people were saying he was going to change things, that he would close the prison," Gharani, who was released in June, says.

    "Even the guards were telling us that if he won, things would improve for us."

    They were to be disappointed. A year after Obama's election win, Al Jazeera has learnt that despite the new president's pledge to close the prison and improve the conditions of detainees held by the US military, prisoners believe that their treatment has deteriorated on his watch.

    Authorities at the prison deny mistreating the inmates, but interviews with former detainees, letters from current prisoners and sworn testimony from independent medical experts who have visited the prison have painted a disturbing picture of psychological and physical abuse very much at odds with White House rhetoric on prisoner treatment.

    While no-one is alleging a return to the early days of the prison, when detainees were subjected to "enhanced interrogation" techniques that are today widely regarded as torture, prisoners say day-to-day life at Guantanamo has become harder under the Obama administration.

    Within days of Obama's inauguration and subsequent announcement that he would close Guantanamo, prisoners say authorities introduced new regulations and revoked previous privileges at the prison.

    "They took away group recreation for prisoners in segregation, which was the only time we saw anyone," Gharani remembers. "They took away the books we had from the library. They even sprayed pepper spray into my cell while I was sleeping, so I'd wake up unable to breathe."

    Gharani says he was beaten so badly by guards that he is still suffering pain today.

    'Humiliating rules'

    Al Jazeera has obtained letters written by those currently being held in Guantanamo that tell a similar story. In one, written in March, a prisoner, who has asked that he remains anonymous for fear of repercussions, says he is writing to "depict to what degree our conditions inside Guantanamo detention have deteriorated" since Obama took office.

    "I am in the very same cell, wearing the same uniform, eating the same food, yet treated much worse compared to mid-2008," the prisoner writes. "We are unable to understand the goals of the policy of more restrictions and inflexibility."

    Letters describe 'fading hopes' [GALLO/GETTY]
    According to the letter, prison authorities inflict "humiliating punishments" on inmates and prisoners face "intentional mental and physical harm".

    "The situation is worsening with the advent of the new management," the prisoner writes, noting, like Gharani, that the new rules were imposed in January this year. Conditions, he says, "do not fit the lowest standard of human living".

    Separately, two prisoners have complained to their lawyer that their belongings, including their bedding, were removed from their cells on several occasions for no reason. Each time, they were told that the removal was a "mistake," and the belongings were returned, only to be confiscated again.

    More disturbingly, the same two prisoners say that during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, their recreation time was moved to prevent them from taking part in traditional group prayer.

    Using religion to punish prisoners is illegal under international law. Authorities at Guantanamo deny the prisoners are kept from practising their religion, although they concede that recreation times are sometimes moved "due to operational needs".

    They say that personal belongings are not removed from cells "unless detainees misuse the items"; the prisoners categorically deny that they did so.

    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which monitors prisoner treatment at Guantanamo, declined to comment on specific allegations at the prison, but says that it recognises the cumulative effect low-level abuse can have on the well-being of prisoners in general.

    "In some cases, a single act may amount to torture," ICRC spokesman Simon Schorno says. "In others, ill treatment may be the result of a number of methods used over time, which, taken individually and out of context, may seem harmless."

    Hunger strikes

    For the Guantanamo prisoners, avenues of protest against their treatment are limited and many have resorted to hunger strikes. Now there is concern that the force-feeding regime to which hunger strikers are subjected is having a detrimental effect on their mental and physical health.

    Abdul Rahman Shalabi has been on hunger strike since August 2005. He has been force-fed twice a day by Guantanamo personnel, who insert a feeding tube through his nose in order to administer a liquid diet aimed at keeping him alive.

    But independent doctors who have evaluated him say that the insertion of the tube has done permanent damage to his nose and throat, making inserting new feeding tubes difficult and stopping him from receiving the calories he needs.

    His lawyers say that persisting with the current treatment could be doing more harm than good. Shalabi was hospitalised in March, and his weight has dropped to just 107 pounds, 30 per cent below his ideal body weight and at the threshold of major organ failure.

    Doctors say force feeding methods are causing permanent damage

    Shalabi's lawyer, Jana Ramsey, is bringing a case aimed at forcing the government to allow medical specialists to work with Guantanamo personnel to prevent the further weight loss she says is inevitable if his current treatment persists.

    "While participating in the strike, Abdul Rahman has, among other things, been overfed to the point of vomiting, had tubes inserted and removed repeatedly until his nose bled, choked until he passed out and been blasted by pepper spray more times than he can remember," she says.

    "He is now dangerously underweight. We are deeply concerned that the medical staff at Guantanamo have no plan to keep Abdul Rahman from starving to death."

    As part of the case, Ramsey arranged for independent medical experts to examine Shalabi at the prison over the summer. Dr Sondra Crosby, an ear, nose and throat specialist who examined him in August, said that without a change in treatment, the prisoner will die.

    "Mr Shalabi has been on a hunger strike for four years, and only recently has his condition severely deteriorated," her testimony notes.

    His current treatment is also having a negative impact on his mental health, experts have found. Dr Emily Keram, a psychiatrist who evaluated him in July, told the court he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression.

    "Mr. Shalabi exhibits symptoms and disorders consistent with his reports of coercive interrogations and other mistreatment," she said, adding that some of this trauma occurred this year.

    "The medical records do indicate that Mr. Shalabi was subjected to Forced Cell Extraction in connection with his feeding multiple times per day through the months of January and February. Mr Shalabi's psychological symptoms are consistent with the distress he reported experiencing as a result of these extractions."

    Shalabi himself attributes his weight loss to his treatment at the prison.

    "My weight has dropped from sadness and provocations, daily humiliations and harassments and the sickness," he says in a letter written in September. "I am a human who is being treated like an animal."

    Mistreatment denied

    Authorities at Guantanamo deny that hunger strikers are subject to different treatment to other prisoners and say that no-one is being mistreated.

    The Guantanamo File

    "All allegations of abuse are fully investigated and if warranted, further action taken," says Lieutenant Commander Brook DeWalt, a military spokesman for the prison. "As with any facility of this nature, we receive many allegations and we investigate any claim, no matter what the source, and take appropriate action when warranted."

    But lawyers say that efforts to raise these issues with the relevant authorities have been met with inertia.

    Ahmed Ghappour, who represents Guantanamo prisoners, has lodged several requests to initiate investigations since Obama took office.

    "I have requested four investigations regarding prisoner abuse just this past year," he says. "The military responded to my first request indicating that they would investigate, but have been radio silent since then."

    Released after a federal court found him to be entirely innocent, Mohammed el Gharani is now adjusting to life outside prison. He says that the allegations made by current inmates match his experience of Guantanamo during the months leading up to his release.

    "I recognise all of this," he says. "There are still more than 200 people in Guantanamo. Since Obama became president, less than 20 have been released. I don't know why, but he has broken his promises."
    Source: Al Jazeera

  10. #30
    For two months I have liked this guy. We have known each other for two years, but have only really been talking for 5 months. I used to think he was cute, but I didn't really know him. We have alot of mutual friends and we just kind of clicked.
    So for the last few months he waits for me after class and before some of my classes to talk to me. Theres a group of us usually and he just stands right behind me, or beside me, or just hug holds me the entire time (5 minutes...heaven
    And after school we play tag in the hall, I give him piggy back rides, we laugh, talk, share an mp3 while waiting for our rides after school, he CONSTANTLY tickles me! So yeah you get the idea.
    Thing is he has a girlfriend. They have been together for 3 months, and they seem more like best friends then a couple. They never kiss unless she initiates it. She is the really jealous type, so obviously she hates me, but acts nice to me when he is around.


    ____________________

    cell phone skins | motorola cell phone batteries | motorola cell phone accessories

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •